In today’s Gospel there’s water, a well, and a woman with debatable morals. That doesn’t seem to have much to do with me and my life- or does it?
Well, in our gospel (John 4, the story of the woman at the well) Jesus uses the word water in two senses. The first sense is the material, normal sense of water that one drinks; the second is the symbolic sense as the source of life and the gift of the Spirit. Jesus uses a language that people can understand and, at the same time, stirs up in them the desire to be like COLES and go deeper and to discover a more insightful meaning to life.
The usual or normal way we come to know Jesus is through the gospel stories. After all, we can’t love someone deeply unless we really get to know them well. So, today’s story is a good example of how we need to pause and reflect on every single gospel story that we read. What does it tell me about Jesus in his human nature? What does it tell me about Jesus in his divine nature? And then the most important question: what does it tell me about my personal relationship with Jesus?
This gospel reflection ought to lead me to the question: where do I go to satisfy my spiritual thirst? What is Jesus calling me to do, right now? One can die of material thirst, if the need is not care for. One can also die of spiritual thirst, if our journey back to God doesn’t include a daily recognition of, and a response to, his daily invitations to enter into a love relationship. Our Lenten journey needs to include special efforts to hear him speak to us in Holy Scripture, the normal way the Spirit gains access into our hearts.
Communal worship is the time when we become “living stones” that God uses us to build into his spiritual house. We become the temple of the living God. The Body of the Risen Lord is the “spiritual temple” from which the spring of the living waters comes. See also (CCC 1179).
Well, in our gospel (John 4, the story of the woman at the well) Jesus uses the word water in two senses. The first sense is the material, normal sense of water that one drinks; the second is the symbolic sense as the source of life and the gift of the Spirit. Jesus uses a language that people can understand and, at the same time, stirs up in them the desire to be like COLES and go deeper and to discover a more insightful meaning to life.
The usual or normal way we come to know Jesus is through the gospel stories. After all, we can’t love someone deeply unless we really get to know them well. So, today’s story is a good example of how we need to pause and reflect on every single gospel story that we read. What does it tell me about Jesus in his human nature? What does it tell me about Jesus in his divine nature? And then the most important question: what does it tell me about my personal relationship with Jesus?
This gospel reflection ought to lead me to the question: where do I go to satisfy my spiritual thirst? What is Jesus calling me to do, right now? One can die of material thirst, if the need is not care for. One can also die of spiritual thirst, if our journey back to God doesn’t include a daily recognition of, and a response to, his daily invitations to enter into a love relationship. Our Lenten journey needs to include special efforts to hear him speak to us in Holy Scripture, the normal way the Spirit gains access into our hearts.
Communal worship is the time when we become “living stones” that God uses us to build into his spiritual house. We become the temple of the living God. The Body of the Risen Lord is the “spiritual temple” from which the spring of the living waters comes. See also (CCC 1179).
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